Concubinage - Dictionary Definition and Overview

Concubinage :  (noun)

1: cohabitation without being legally married

Based on WordNet 2.0

Concubinage : \Con*cu"bi*nage\, n. 1. The cohabiting of a man and a woman who are not legally married; the state of being a concubine.

Note: In some countries, concubinage is marriage of an inferior kind, or performed with less solemnity than a true or formal marriage; or marriage with a woman of inferior condition, to whom the husband does not convey his rank or quality. Under Roman law, it was the living of a man and woman in sexual relations without marriage, but in conformity with local law.

2. (Law) A plea, in which it is alleged that the woman suing for dower was not lawfully married to the man in whose lands she seeks to be endowed, but that she was his concubine.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary

CONCUBINAGE. This term has two different significations; sometimes it means a species of marriage which took place among the ancients, and which is yet in use in some countries. In this country it means the act or practice of cohabiting as man and woman, in sexual commerce, without the authority of law, or a legal marriage. Vide 1 Bro. Civ. Law, 80; Merl. Rep. b. t.; Dig. 32, 49, 4; Id. 7, 1, 1; Code, 5, 27, 12.

Based on Webster's Revised Unabridged Dictionary (1913)
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